AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 15, 2025

Laura Siegemund

Press Conference

L. SIEGEMUND/Z. Qinwen

7-6, 6-3

THE MODERATOR: Laura, congratulations. Great match. Can you tell us how you felt and your thoughts throughout the match.

LAURA SIEGEMUND: Yeah, obviously I'm very happy and very proud of my performance. You know, I expected a very, very tough game against this kind of top player. I think she's one of the best in the world.

It's never going to be easy, and there will be continuously through the match, like, tough situations to solve. But I wanted to come out, you know, courageous. I wanted to show the variety of my game, be very aggressive, and that's what I did.

I'm particularly happy about how I maintained that throughout the match, because a player like her stays dangerous. She doesn't care if she lost a set. You need to keep, you know, pushing, to keep making the points, and taking decisions and taking the right decisions at the right time.

I'm really happy how I did that. I'm happy how I held up physically and how I moved around the court, yeah.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. Is it the first time since 2023 you have made the third round in singles at a slam?

LAURA SIEGEMUND: Yeah, it is possible.

Q. What's that feeling like? Have you changed anything in this year that you weren't doing in 2024?

LAURA SIEGEMUND: Yeah, it's great for me to be in the third round. I usually have really tough draws, the latest in the second round, that often kicks me out of tournament, having good performances but just going out anyway. Today that was not the case, or the draw was the same, tough.

But yeah, no, it's nice to be in the third round. You know, I didn't expect it. My goal was to win a match here and defend my points.

As I keep saying, singles is not really my priority anymore, but at the same time, I know what I can do still. I know that if physically I'm healthy, that my game is there. Most of the time it's for physical reasons that I feel like I can't really reveal it.

Right now I have to say I feel really good. I don't know when was the last time I felt that good and I have had that little problems physically.

I had a great offseason. I changed a couple of things. You know, I always try to improve. I never give up also not on my body. I feel like we can do tweaks here and there where we can still keep it on a high level.

That's what showed today.

Q. How did you feel mentally before the match? Is it quite intimidating, I guess, that you're playing someone who was in the final last year? She won Olympic gold. How did you feel going in?

LAURA SIEGEMUND: It was interesting, because when I walked to the match, I realized how calm I was. Because, I mean, I have played many years and played many big matches here. I played in that arena before. I won big matches, and I have lost also some tough matches here.

But it was interesting, because I did feel that change in how, you know, really overly nervous I was, and it's also different every match. It can be tomorrow that I'm super nervous again.

But I was very calm, and I was very, like, kind of in a good way excited and in a good way tight. Also, you need to have tension. There is nothing worse for me than to have no tension. I usually play my worst tennis then.

But it was in a good way. You never know. You can go out and lose 2 and 2 in an hour and 15 minutes and that's it, not even playing bad. But I just try to push these thoughts aside and focus on what is in my control and try to do that as best as I can.

Q. You mentioned before that you were quite calm, and you also said that you were happy at how you were playing very well this year. You're 36 this year. Have you been surprised at the level that you're playing?

LAURA SIEGEMUND: Yeah, because it's always a physical roller coaster, and I kind of, in the past years, I had to accept that I can feel great tomorrow and I can have a big physical problem -- can feel great today, and tomorrow I have some kind of physical problem that's, like, absorbing all of my attention and my time also, and I can't prepare the way I would like to.

I'm used to that, so that's very surprising for me if that's not my everyday situation, and it hasn't been. I don't want to say too loud, because it can change any minute. I have played a lot of matches now. It wouldn't surprise me if something broke down.

But I learned in the last years and through those injuries and through those, you know, bigger and smaller injuries, I just learned to live with that and accept that in a way. I mean, you never really accept it, but you learn to deal with it better. I kind of like ride the wave how it is in that moment.

Today I feel great. I had a good recovery yesterday. I didn't practice yesterday, because I had a really tough match the day before. That's also one of the things I learned. I usually love to be on the court and I love to tweak here and there and this return and that shot, and I have to let go of that because I need rest. That's the things that have changed a lot with age and through the years.

But, you know, I didn't practice yesterday and came out good today. I need to trust that more, also.